DFI KT400A LAN Party Motherboard Bundle

First of all, has any one ever heard of DFI? I read a review on this motherboard (or two) and it seems to check out fine for a athlon 2600+ but i wanted to get a few personal opinions before i bought it. (it has a full set of round cables and front I/O port mount included in the bundle)

yeah, I've heard of DFI. I don't know much about them, but i heard they had some compatibility issues. However, i heard this a long time ago

There new Intel boards seem to be doing very well! And I think i may know a link for an AMD review of one of there boards.

http://www.pcextreme.net/dfi_nf2ultra1.php

Hope that helps

DFI, Dragon Flower inc. does not make as high quality pcb's as Asus or gigabyte etc...the DFI KT400a does not oc as much as any nforce2 motherboard and it does perform worse, the DFI NFII does well though.

DFI DOES make high quality PCB boards. It is true that the KT400A LanParty, while being a very fast board, cannot match up to ANY NForce2 board. I own all three boards.

I guess I will let you guys know who I am =)


My name is Travis, or Angry_Games, and I have been hired by DFI to do remote support for users/customers on this forum, Anandtech forum, and mainly AMDMB.com forums.

OC does not pay to have me here, nor do I pay them to be here. I am paid by DFI. DFI is trying to get the word out on their level of service, and I am step on in that support chain.

I have all three of the LANPARTY boards made by DFI. Honestly my experience with Intel is minimal since the days of the P3/I815. I do have a tremendous amount of AMD experience.

But just to show you that I am not a total moron with Intel, I do have a 2.0Ghz Northwood inside the I875Pro DFI board, and its running at near stock everything at 2.577Ghz, and thats with crappy DDR.

My job is to pay attention to these forums, and assist ANYONE that has a question about a DFI product, give technical support to ANY end user with a DFI board, and to facilitate a good relationship between end-users and DFI. And of course, assist end-users that are looking to buy DFI products by answering questions before they make the purchase to make sure they are getting what they want/need.

I will not try to sell anyone anything, nor try to influence your decision to go with DFI. That is not my job, and as a sub-contractor for DFI, I am still allowed independent opinions. If an ASUS board is more what you are needing, then I will honestly tell you you should get the ASUS.

Potential DFI customers inquiring about the DFI product lines will not be pressured into buying one, or flamed if they choose to go with someone else. I am only here to help you guys, the users, and to help youresolve any issues you might encounter.

Anyone that owns a DFI product and has any questions or comments may direct them to me at the email in my profile, or PM me. I will also give you my MSN address and phone number in private if you wish. Or you can directly contact DFI here: [email protected]

Any question/issue I cannot resolve, I forward to DFI either here in USA or to the bigshots in Taiwan. Response time is usually as little as two hours during normal working hours, and can sometimes be as high as 24 hours.

DFI is committed to making your experience the best it can be. We will go so far as to reproduce your system in the labs in Taiwan to resolve a problem if that is what it takes.

Other companies have great service. DFI aims to provide an even better level of support to the end users. I am here to try and give you guys a 'personalized' support, instead of the cookie-cutter support a lot of other vendors have. We will replace defective boards with no hassle, and if its easier to send it in than drive 80 miles to return it, then we will take care of it. Whatever is easiest to you.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me =)

Travis H.
Angry_Games
Official DFI Support Tech

Angry_Games said:

DFI DOES make high quality PCB boards. It is true that the KT400A LanParty, while being a very fast board, cannot match up to ANY NForce2 board. I own all three boards.

I guess I will let you guys know who I am =)


My name is Travis, or Angry_Games, and I have been hired by DFI to do remote support for users/customers on this forum, Anandtech forum, and mainly AMDMB.com forums.

OC does not pay to have me here, nor do I pay them to be here. I am paid by DFI. DFI is trying to get the word out on their level of service, and I am step on in that support chain.

I have all three of the LANPARTY boards made by DFI. Honestly my experience with Intel is minimal since the days of the P3/I815. I do have a tremendous amount of AMD experience.

But just to show you that I am not a total moron with Intel, I do have a 2.0Ghz Northwood inside the I875Pro DFI board, and its running at near stock everything at 2.577Ghz, and thats with crappy DDR.

My job is to pay attention to these forums, and assist ANYONE that has a question about a DFI product, give technical support to ANY end user with a DFI board, and to facilitate a good relationship between end-users and DFI. And of course, assist end-users that are looking to buy DFI products by answering questions before they make the purchase to make sure they are getting what they want/need.

I will not try to sell anyone anything, nor try to influence your decision to go with DFI. That is not my job, and as a sub-contractor for DFI, I am still allowed independent opinions. If an ASUS board is more what you are needing, then I will honestly tell you you should get the ASUS.

Potential DFI customers inquiring about the DFI product lines will not be pressured into buying one, or flamed if they choose to go with someone else. I am only here to help you guys, the users, and to help youresolve any issues you might encounter.

Anyone that owns a DFI product and has any questions or comments may direct them to me at the email in my profile, or PM me. I will also give you my MSN address and phone number in private if you wish. Or you can directly contact DFI here: [email protected]

Any question/issue I cannot resolve, I forward to DFI either here in USA or to the bigshots in Taiwan. Response time is usually as little as two hours during normal working hours, and can sometimes be as high as 24 hours.

DFI is committed to making your experience the best it can be. We will go so far as to reproduce your system in the labs in Taiwan to resolve a problem if that is what it takes.

Other companies have great service. DFI aims to provide an even better level of support to the end users. I am here to try and give you guys a 'personalized' support, instead of the cookie-cutter support a lot of other vendors have. We will replace defective boards with no hassle, and if its easier to send it in than drive 80 miles to return it, then we will take care of it. Whatever is easiest to you.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me =)

Travis H.
Angry_Games
Official DFI Support Tech

Click to expand...

Hello Travis,

Welcome to the forums!!

I will be pm'ing you as I have some questions. I have included some reviews I have found and would like your opinion or anything you may add or point out that you believe to be inaccurate.

http://www6.tomshardware.com/motherboard/20030721/nforce2_ultra_400-14.html

http://www.ocworkbench.com/2003/dfi/nf2ultra/nf2ultra-1.htm

I plan/want to buy the DFI lanparty Nforce2 Ultra 400. I currently run a Soltek 75FRN2-L. One of the things I am not that thrilled with about Soltek is their bios support, flashing more than once seems to put the bios chip in danger of damage, something I have not experienced in the past with any other boards, and I have owned quite a few, most recently the Epox 8RDA+ rev 1.1. Fortunaltely my Soltek shipped with a very good bios D1.1L however if I want XP3200 400fsb support I have been told by Soltek it requires flashing to bios 1.2 which removes some of the functionality regarding mem frequency adjustment, which I would rather keep. So far 1.1 bios has been good but I would like the option to go back and forth between bioses to test and see what I prefer. This is an area I found Epox to be exellent in and I never had a problem.

However the Soltek board does overclock well and that is a big concern for me and it also is very stable once I achieve the proper speeds I have wanted. I am currently at 216 fsb synced at 10x multi with a XP2500. I plan to go higher with a good burn in to follow. To date I have run Prime 95 for 4 hrs flawlessly with vcore of 1.7 . The bios issue appears to be a common, mentioned by Soltek users who have wanted to flash back from newer biosses to the better known bios of D1.1L

Of the reviews that are available the DFI seems to post the best results matched against some of the better know brands. I have read some other reviews but I just posted the 2 links, another is anandtech.com which I find to be reputable. Toms hardware I can be partial to at times although this reiew seems to be pretty good. I have not played with a DFI board since the DFI AK76SN. It was stable and met my needs.

I am trying to justify the cost of the DFI vs my next choice which is the value version Gigabyte 7N400 Pro and then the Abit NF7-S version 2.

I also question passive cooling of the NB and whether this is an area one would want to improve on if they bought the board. I have found this to be an added benefit on my Soltek and I am planning to actively cool the SB so I can achieve a higher fsb as I do think there are some added benefits to reducing SB heat. I have not yet replaced the thermal pad with AS3 under the NB cooler but I do plan to. Jimmy Jim Jim down below has done this and it has aided higher fsb.

I realize the DFI does offer alot of bundled gear and that the price including this gear vs buying it separate represents good savings as I am interested in some of the extra features. I have very big interest in the board offering raid 1.5 however I am also a bit stumped as to why they have gone the route of a single on-board SATA connector, which disables the primary IDE.

I will be running 3 dimms of OCZ PC3500 EL DDR in any of the new boards I run 2x256 and 1x512. Can you tell me of any compatibility issues with this ram or if the board has trouble running 3 dimms at their stated timing rates? Feature wise the board offers alot, it is minus 4 holes around the socket (but water cooling is not a route I have any interest in anyways) and the cmos reset is in an odd place but it has a reset switch on the board which is unique. For the minor quirks it may have I can live with them as I do not think there is a perfect board. It would be nice to see a stripped down version of this board for less, but at the time it is not an option and I am not interested in KT based boards at all.

Looking forward to your feedback.

Cisco KId

Me second that one cisko kid I am running 1700 chip at 210fsb 11X 2.32Ghz.

oops Cisco, i just pm'd you, didnt see this post =)

check yer pm's and let me know if that helps!

Angry_Games said:

oops Cisco, i just pm'd you, didnt see this post =)

check yer pm's and let me know if that helps!

Click to expand...

Angry games,

Thanks for the speedy reply, I like your objective reply, and the sites you recommended are ones I trust over the links I posted. The sidewinder gear to be added is stellar, I will have more questions and as I said the support is what I am most interested in as I know the product is solid.

Thanks (and do not mind the 3 pms to you, one on the board one email and one pm LOL I am getting all excited)

Cisco KId

well i posted this in about 3 other threads without realizing it! i must be tired or something...all that typing back to you guys heh.


ok..heres what i wrote:

heh Cisco, no problem. Im not here to sell you anything, and as i said, that Abit is every bit as good as the DFI.

I just happen to think the DFI support is some of the best. Of course, since I am one of those DFI support techs, I AM biased =)

but we wont leave you out in the dark one day by packing up and going out of business. DFI has been around for more than 20 years.

i am worried though, I have not received an email from you =(.

Also, if you get that NB cooler, PLEASE let me know how good it is. I am very interested in it myself for when i get some TwinMOS CH-5 DDR3700 =) I know with that ram i will get up over 200Mhz and that awesome looking NB cooler will come in very handy!

Travis

Hmm.. does the retail NFII version come with the carrying strap and everything like the KT400A? I saw a review of it and didnt see any thing about it, but in their KT400A review they had pics.. I am definatly going DFI NFII my next mobo.. when they come out with one with mounting holes.. I am getting the SLK947U, so if it wont fit on, its a no go.. i know the REV 1.0 doesnt... I sent mine back to newegg it was a refurb anyways.. doesnt suprise me..

the DFI NF2 has the exact same package of goodies that the KT400 and Intel875 LanParty's do:

FrontX
PC Transpo
rounded UV cables
SATA cable + SATA power cable
backplate
UV sensitive motherboard
all that jazz =)

The SLK U series will not work on this DFI NF2 LanParty board. There are no mount holes on it. The SLK-800/900 A versions will definitely fit =)

Travis